Spirals
of floating model airplane propellers, motorized by a light sensitive
speed controller, form the projection surface for a real-time computer
generated image of interference patterns. The image projected on the
propeller directly effects the speed of that propeller through
its light sensor. Viewers' shadows interact with the projection,
triggering pulses of interference waves, manipulating the speeds of the
propellers.

Time Machine was
inspired by the recipients of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics, who
determined that matter, like light, has properties of coherence made
evident through examination of interference patterns. They
essentially created the first "Matter Laser," functioning much like a
normal laser, but creating a coherent beam of matter rather than
light. The
Nobel site has more information about this discovery.

Moving one's hand
in the proximity of a propeller blocks the light -- the propeller spins
faster. Multiple projection sources are used so that the viewer
can block only one source at a time. This way, regardless of the
viewer's position, an image will be projected both on the viewers, on
the propellers, and on the back wall.

A remarkable
sense of space is created by the layers of suspended propellers and
multiple projection sources. When the viewer enters Time
Machine their perceptions of space, position, and time are
radically altered.